Everyday Freak Of Science: Part 3

Everyday Freak of Science: part 3

(I, the author of this work, do not consent to this work being crossposted/translated without my knowledge or used to train an AI, ever.)

Masterlist

Work at the lounge? Well... potentially? It depends. I can't really see a downside, but that's because I don't know anything about this place, really.

Jade's voice interrupts my train of thought. "You don't happen to have a cell phone, do you?"

What the hell is a cell phone? I know I don't have one- the only thing I'm carrying is the "magic pen" I got after the entrance ceremony- but still, what the heel does that mean?

My confusion must show on my face, because Jade asks, "Ah, do you not know?"

"Not one bit."

"Do you have money? Clothes? You need uniforms to attend, you know."

"Oh. So... am I going to have to leave?" What happens if I can't attend? Will I be shipped back to the lab, or will I just be tossed out on the streets?

"Well," Azul jumps in, "I could arrange for you to work at the lounge year-round in exchange for uniforms, a cell phone, and other necessities."

I don't need to think about this. That lab was boring and miserable; this place is new and facinating.

"Deal."

Azul's face lights up, figuratively. "Wonderful! Now, if you could just sign this..."

He places a glowing piece of what looks to be a scroll on the desk in front of me. I can read it, of course, but there's just one problem:

"How do I sign it?"

"Ah, like this." Jade places a pen in my hand before he positions his own over mine, tracing my name in loopy letters onto a piece of paper he just grabbed.

Although it takes a few minutes, I can soon sign my name. The instant I do so on the scroll, Azul pipes up again.

"Wonderful! Give me until tomorrow and I'll have a phone for you. Oh, and here." With a wave of his staff, some fabric is floating in the air and onto my lap. "Those are your uniforms. The white one is for potionology, the lavender one is a dorm uniform, the dark grey ones are for P.E. and general classes, respectively, and the teal ones are pajamas. Let me know if any of them are the wrong size."

All this... for me? Incredible. Even back in the lab, I only got nice things as tests- experiments, meant to learn more about me without cutting me open. All of this- what's the word- hospitality is new to me, entirely. Maybe it's not kindness, but it's benevolent- how fitting.

"Requiem? Are you there?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Um... thanks for asking, Jade."

"Fufu. Perhaps it is best you be off to bed. I shall escort you."

He walks me down the now-quiet hallways, left hand on my right shoulder. When he opens the door, there's someone in the right bed- guess that's to be expected- and, with a wave of his wand, Jade has swapped the ceremonial robes I was wearing with the pajamas in the stack of fabric in my arms.

"Thanks, Jade." I'm so lucky to have him around. What would I do without him? Get sent back, probably. Just when I think I'm safe, though, he leans down and whispers:

"I noticed you did not eat dinner. Do not worry, I will bring you some fresh meat in the morning."

Crap.

This. I have always wondered what the non-overblotters would look like if they were the ones to overblot.

If Ruggie can shove twenty people down the stairs on a regular day, can you imagine what he can do if he overblot

"Hevell228." Idia's voice is as cold and hard as stone as he speaks, anger ready to erupt at any given moment. Somehow, the way he addresses me by my username doesn't remove from the gravity of the scenario. I can't see his eyes, and his hair betrays nothing, still the cool, even, faintly glowing blue of a Minecraft soul torch.

"Yes, housewarden?" I don't sound as meek as I did that first fateful raid, in the middle of class.

"Report." He wants to know. I take a deep breath and pray silently to the devs of every game I know in the hopes they can somehow keep him from taking his inevitable rage out on me. He never has- I'm just the messenger- but my dad wasn't the same, and my fears are ingrained into my skull.

"They came again last night, around 8:54pm. The usual five. We couldn't identify them. They stayed their usual six hours and took their usual quarry. We weren't able to stop them. They engaged with only a few, and we were unable to stop them. But! We were able to save some of the high-quality targets from their grasp. They only made off with seven of the good ones. And eighteen low-quality and eleven medium-quality."

"Ha ha!" Idia's hair turns a triumphant orange. He throws his fists in the air, turns around, and faces me directly. "I knew it! Those noobs stand no chance against the AOE I loaded the defense crews with! GGEZ to them! Finally, it's not a game over for our inventory!"

I smile, sharing his victory- our victory. Ignihyde's victory. It's small, no doubt, but it's not like this is a lifelong fight- and the Culinary Crucible ends tomorrow.

My smile morphs into a smirk. They probably won't come back.

Masterlist

There are two kinds of people

Just you don't love Malleus' fangs?

Because I do

Just look at them

He's like so cute (and handsome) when he shows his fangs???

*convulses*

Have a good day~💚

So, I decided to try and get Mafuyu's bday card, and,

ONE TEN PULL. OH MY GOD.

From there, I decided to try for her new bday card with my twenty pulls, and

HOW??? MAFUYU I LOVE YOU TOO WELCOMEEEEEEE

This is part 21 of the "What if Yuu didn't want to go back?" Series!

(I, the author of this work, do not consent to this work being crossposted/translated without my knowledge or used to train an AI, ever.)

Masterlist

"Goodnight, Yuu," whispers Grim.

"Goodnight, Grim," I whisper back. Korrak and Mandible are already asleep, and we dare not wake them.

A moment passes. "Grim, do you want to try and find another big stick tomorrow?"

"Hehe. Yes."

And then our eyes close.

It only feels like a moment later that we're up and walking again, back in the Backstage Room for our usual morning routine. The walk there is muscle memory at this point, so we arrive a minute earlier than Epel. Interestingly, Korrak isn't there, even though he and Mandible were out of bed when Grim and I woke.

Meh. I'm too tired to think about that and add it to my mental list of clues in the quest to unravel the mystery that is our human roommate and his 'possum familiar.

More people file in as I brush Grim's fur to the smooth and silky shine that is expected and achieved daily by every furry familiar in Pomefiore. I'm still half-alseep when I squeeze a dash of kitty toothpaste onto Grim's kitty toothbrush, but that doesn't last.

With my own hair brushed and Epel on my left, I think it's going to be a normal day. Still, something feels off. Very off. I'm unsettled, and I don't know why.

Then it hits me. Slowly, like something oozing onto my head, it hits me. If Korrak has pilot parents, then why did he do so well against Floyd?

This is going to keep eating at me until I solve it. Sigh. And I have classes today.

" 'Ats th'matter, Yuu? Yer lookin' pretty worn-out, an' th' day ain't even really started."

"Myeeh. Classes."

Epel looks at us, confused- before laughing. "We ain't got no class t'day, 's a weekend!"

Grim and I both thank whatever forces gave us a day off. Epel, Grim and I hurry through our routine and go to breakfast- eggs on toast.

I still haven't seen Korrak or Mandible today.

Before I can properly register it- or wake up- Grim and I are adventuring through the woods outside our dorm, continuing our quest for a stick.

We carefully dig through the leaves before I step anywhere, exercising all the caution we feel we'll need to ensure the perfect stick does not escape our notice nor break before we may properly obtain it.

The woods are peaceful. Grim has dismounted from my shoulder in favor of trotting along the forest floor, through the yellow-brown that carpets the grass and tree roots.

His ears perk up. He looks suspiciously at nothing, head turned, and then calms, ears lowering. Still, he's clearly on edge.

I've got a feeling about this. It's a little dread, settling in my stomach like tar, but there's also some determination, sitting atop the dread like snow.

The question about Korrak is still eating at me. It's harder to ignore now that the sleep has left my eyes and mind, but I'm setting it aside nonetheless to search for the stick. Still: why would he lie? Did he even? Maybe it's just redacted information he's not comfortable sharing, as opposed to an outright lie. Maybe his parents taught him self-defense.

But... that didn't look like professional self-defense. It looked like something learned on the streets- but how would I know? I'm new to this world, maybe that's just what their jujustu looks like.

What's that? It sounds like... chittering. I look at Grim. He's facing roughly north, at the source, ears pointed forward. He makes eye contact with me. The message is clear: I'm not just dreaming. There's something- or someone- out there.

Hold on. More chittering? It sounds... different, somehow. A different voice? Wait. That sounds a lot like Mandible. And the other voice is talking now, could that be...Korrak?

What language could that be? Not French, that's for sure... maybe something else?

Wait. I've heard people talking about an "Animal Linguistics" class. If animals have their own language... and Mandible is an opossum...

Grim and I make eye contact again. He's connected the dots, too. Another question: why is Korrak speaking opossum? I've heard other people talking to their familiars during meals and in the Backstage Room, but they don't speak the animal language- they speak their human language, and the familiar chirps, barks, chitters, or otherwise make animal sounds back. I often can't understand either side; a lot of Pomefiore people speak Dutch or Spanish or something.

This mystery just keeps expanding. My mental pinboard has even more yarn on it now, and no extra answers.

The chittering has stopped. Maybe that wasn't Mandible and Korrak? Meh. We have a stick to find!

The woods are pretty and peaceful. Leaves crunch underfoot and underpaw, respectively, and rocks must be carefully avoided- lest I fall over. Grim is a quadruped, so he doesn't have that risk.

Ow! Tree roots. I also have to watch out for tree roots. Wish I remembered that before I fell flat on my face, but it's a little late for that.

"Are you okay?" I know that voice. That's Mandible.

"I'm fine," I start, lifting myself from the leafy forest floor. But, before I ask about what was overheard, I catch myself. They probably wouldn't react well if I asked.

Wait... this is a new area of the forest. I'm standing on the edge of a clearing, set in an indent in the ground, like a reverse hill. The inside of the bowl-like shape is all leaves, with some decent-sized boulders around the edges. One, two... Thirteen boulders, arranged in a circle. Some have sharp edges, others appear entirely smooth. All are grey, but various shades- some are far darker than others. A few even look to have stripes, like the igneous rock I learned about in middle school science class. It's very pretty.

There's an indent in the leaves- a path where someone walked. This must be where Korrak was earlier.

"What are you two doing out in the woods?"

Before I can respond to Mandible's question, Grim jumps in for me. "We're gonna get a big stick to make into a toy!

"Oh, that sounds fun! I think I saw one over here!" Mandible hops down from Korrak's shoulder and trots down the steep slope, into the clearing. I follow, take one step down, trip again, and fall- a hand wraps around my right wrist, and I realize I'm pulling Korrak down with me. He's strong, but gravity and momentum are stronger.

I hit the ground first. My arm breaks my falk for most of my body, but my hips don't get that, and throb with dull pain. I don't feel blood. Then, Korrak hits the leaf litter- and exclaims something when he does. It's not English, but the chittering we heard before. He sounds indistinguishable from an actual opossum.

Oops. I'm staring. And he's noticed, too. Time to try and pass it off as an "I was worried" thing.

"Myeeh! Are you two okay? Yuu? Yuu!"

Well, Grim's beat me to it. And, oddly enough, Mandible is chittering at Korrak. I think he's asking if we're alright.

I stand, stretch, and offer Korrak my hand. He takes it, and I lift him. "You good?"

"S-sure am. Thanks." He pauses. "Are you?"

I nod. "Yeah. Sorry about that."

"Yuu! Do you need ice?! I can summon some!"

"Don't, Grim."

Korrak is looking at me now. "You're pretty fluent in Cat."

I look at him, right into his smokey grey eyes. "What?"

"You're p-pretty fluent in Cat. I'm impressed."

"What do you mean by that? How can I be fluent in a species?" Only after the words leave my mouth do I remember Animal Linguistics is a class.

Korrak bursts out laughing. "Animals have languages. You seem p-pretty fluent in Cat, especially considering it's not y-your native language. That's what you and Grim are speaking. What's h-h-he saying, anyway?"

"He's asking if I need ice and offering to summon some."

Korrak laughs. "G-good ol' Grim."

"By the way, what did you mean by 'not my native language'?"

He pauses, nervous. "W-well, I'm assuming your native language isn't Cat. You seem f-fluent in it, th-though."

"I'm assuming the chittering is you and Mandible speaking Opossum, then."

Korrak nods. "Y-yeah. It's my, um.. Nevermind."

He whispers the last part, just a faint draft of breath, but my ears catch it anyway. Grim's do, too. This time, I take notice of how his words sound- he's speaking Cat.

"Your what?"

"Your what?" I echo his words, in English this time.

"N-nothing." That's a sound he doesn't usually stutter. He's nervous.

I give him a look. He doesn't cave, not yet.

"Found it!"

"Myeeh, that's too thin... maybe. Hey, Yuu, over here!"

I walk over to Grim and Mandible to look at the stick. It's wildly thin, and is shaped like a paperclip someone tried and failed to straighten out. It's not going to work.

"Yeah, too thin. Thanks for trying, Mandible." I spare a glance at Korrak. He's still standing there, nervous. I'm a little scared to leave him alone. Not completely alone, obviously- he'll still have his familiar- but an opossum can only do so much, and... sigh.

"Come on, hench-human. I wanna see Sam's. I heard there's a tuna discount!"

Of course, he's thinking of tuna. His favorite food. He's never told me, but, in the other world, my Grim loved tuna beyond any other food. He loves it here, too.

Maybe we'll run into Rook there; we can ask him for help if we do. Hey, that's right- Rook is probably here somewhere, supervising. Korrak will be okay.

I laugh. "Alright, Grim, let's go and look."

Taking one last glance at the nervous, purple-haired boy and the furry marsupial, we leave the little bowl clearing behind us, questions put aside in our heads.